Coricidin Cough and Cold (triple c's) Addiction?

[barrelracer2016]

My name is Katie and I am 16 years young... so I have been abusing Coricidin for about a year now. my parents swear I am addicted but I keep trying to tell them that the only reason I do it is because it is fun. They are now threatening to send me off to rehab so I have no choice but to stop. My question is, does Coricidin actually have addictive qualities?? I know it is mentally addictive but other than that is there any possible way there could be something more? Also, I am having some hard time even doing simple times tables in my math class, will I ever be able to comprehend things as fast as i used to or is that permanent brain damage that I have done as a result of the "triple c's?"

Any sort of help would be great... I am really lost and just want to prove to myself that I do not have an addiction :( Thanks.

[Kats2c]

Mabe I should stop dxm I've been doing them for two and a half years now I think I'm compleley done with it all nobody in this world should waste there time on it I've ruined a lot of thinks in my life so far I don't recommend anybody stealing as much as I did every day iam only 16 years have my fun with lost memory lost happieness I can't enjoy anything as much as I always have all I have to say is dont ******* do it.

[Jinx_777]

my son almost died 2 times THAT I KNOW OF using ccc.  the first time he was in high school, about 2005, I got a call from the school counselor that my son wasn't acting right and his friend told her he took 2 boxes of ccc.  i was there to pick him up within 5 mins and 5 mins into the ride he started going into convulsions and psychosis.  it was so hard because I am trying to drive as fast as I could while trying to hold my son's head up and trying to revive him.  fast forward, he continued to use, ended up spending time in prison for 1st degree assault (part of the psychosis thinking some guy was trying to rape his gf) and still to this day he is overly paranoid, cannot sit still, talks so fast you can barely understand him, etc.  the effects are LONG TERM.  please use all the info you learn here and educate your friends and maybe the entire school.  i called the news and the school and started the effort to get dxm products behind the pharmacy counter.  the current law where you can only buy 2 boxes doesn't stop them from going to multiple stores and also when out on the shelves most of them steal it anyway.  i am glad you found this site before you ruined your life forever

[anbeha]

I personally know how dangerous Coricidin is.  My daughter started using her third year of college.  Within 2 weeks she was taken to ER from a party in a psychosis.  If it weren't for my support, I'm sure she would be dead.   She's been hospitalized 20 times since 2011 from abusing coricidin.  There's been all types of hallucinations, seizures, etc. Sometimes diagnosed as schizoaffective bipolar type.  This has affected her finishing college, family/social life, and work.  She hasn't been hospitalized 6 months now, and in dual-diagnosis rehab so far  3 months.  Recently had brainmapping, which shows cognitive and behavioral problems, as seen in individuals with memory problems, ADD, and anxiety.  There is no prior history of any conditions.  There are too many dangerous over-the-counter medicines.  I pray you leave this alone.  It is addictive.

[N8_Reb]

Hey Katie how are you doing?

[barrelracer2016]

THANK YOU! :)

[barrelracer2016]

better than amazing!

[N8_Reb]

Oops it should say STICKING WITH SOBRIETY lol.. Typos

[N8_Reb]

CONGRATULATIONS! I am really proud of you and you are very strong for not sticking with sobriety! It really can be such a difficult thing and you've defeated it. Keep doing good and enjoying life! :)
-Nate

[ROSYouralright]

Awesome news!!!

[EvolverU]

Katie, this is great news!! Way to go. How are you feeling?

[barrelracer2016]

I have been 5 weeks sober as of today :)

[barrelracer2016]

I am going to start going to NA meetings and I am going to see a counselor weekly

[barrelracer2016]

thank you for ur kind words :) u are exactly right, I love riding horses and Dakota is my everything.. without her I wouldn't be where I am today..

I started taking ccc with a friend of mine.. but then we were no longer friends so I started doing them by myself. the girl I was doing them with stopped after I was hospitalized but I kept doing them for fun. now its different.. I have to stop not just for myself but for the people who care about me. I realize what I have to live for... I just cant believe it took all of this to realize it ... :(

[atthebeach]

hi Katie,
congrats on your clean time, you are doing awesome.
i am so proud of you.  you are a very smart and beautiful teenage girl,
i know that it seemed fun for a while but you realized the consequences and side effects and that's a good thing.

how are you doing with your parents? have you gone to any counseling?
i have four children,28, 22, 16 and 14. i know first hand about the
pitfalls, boredom, temptations, peer pressure.
please get yourself more involved with other things that can help fill the void.
youth group at church, clubs at school, community outreach, playing
music,.
i saw and love the picture of your horse Dakota. your user name
says it all. you love horses and riding.

were you taking the triple ccc's with friends or by yourself?
are you still seeing those small friends? have they stopped also?

keep talking with us, there is always someone here to talk with,
Debbie

[EvolverU]

Hi!

I'm So glad that you came here & posted! Congratulations & a Big Hi-Five to you on your week & 4 days.

If you find yourself having difficulty staying away from the DXM/CCC or feeling the need to 'party' with a substitute drug, I want you to know that we're here for you !! Keep up the good work -- You have so much to live for !

[barrelracer2016]

thank you everyone who has commented.. u all have really given me insight into something I didn't know was so dangerous... I will be sure to keep everyone updated as I have been sober for a week and 4 days :)

[bahamamama13165]

I finally kicked my addiction to Dxm on July 1st when I went to rehab. Many people do not know it is physically and mentally addictive. Many doctors don't even realize it. I was a daily user for years. When I quit I was physically ill. I had horrible night sweats for 2 months. I'm clean 6 months now and
brain is finally bouncing back and my memory has returned. Quit now!

[ROSYouralright]

Another danger is chlorpheniramine's notably long half life (about a whole day), which may result in high levels of it building up in one's body if Coricidin is abused frequently. Fatalities have resulted from overdoses of chlorpheniramine.

[N8_Reb]

And buying coricidin. (I was 14 then) I live in a very small town so there weren't many stores that sold coricidin. My use went up from 8 to 10 to 12 pills before my tolerance to dxm went up to where I had to buy both robitussin gels to mix with my coricidin. In the summer of 2012, I was using coricidin and robitussin very frequently if not nearly every day. I had run out of my own money and resorted to stealing money from my parents and grandpa. I even raided the change jars to take to the bank so I could get my high. My use continued through the summer into the fall when school started back. I had to cut down on my use to just every weekend, but I often went to school high. My tolerence was rapidly rising. I continued this cycle until February 2013, where I was clean for about a month but I relapsed in March. I then was getting worse than ever before and selling personal belongings and frequently lying to my parents about what was going on. This continued until the end of May 2013, when the store that I went to for coricidin banned me because they were cracking down on minors buying medicine. I then took my last 16 coricidin and 20 robogels. When I came down, I was extremely depressed knowing that I won't be able to get my drug. I was hysterical (I usually never show my emotions to people) and even wishing I would die. I had terrible psychological withdrawls and urges to use even months after. I have relapsed a few times since then, but my lack of supply is the only thing stopping me from a full blown relapse. The last time I used coricidin was in like October or November 2013 and I have urges to use Coricidin right now just thinking about it. Dxm has very powerful psychological withdrawals. If you would like to speak to me through email, contact me at ***@****

I have really had to shorten my story because I'm on a cell phone and can't type well, but if you can email me, I can help you. I've been through all of this.
Best of luck,
Nate

[N8_Reb]

Hi Katie, my name is Nate and I'm also 16 years old. I have been addicted to Coricidin and other DXM products as well. I just came across your story and noticed it was strikingly similar to mine.
For me, it all started in May 2012 when I had just recovered from the flu, and found a box of coricidin in the house. I had heard that they can get you high, so I took 6 and felt amazing. I knew I have to have more. I started walking to my local store

[EvolverU]

Hi there Katie & Welcome!

I read this with interest & I'm glad you posted ;-) The fact that you're having difficulty with your times tables would tend to support the above contention that this drug can impair cognitive ability. Please, drop this drug now. As Ric said above, it's more chemically damaging than heroin & like Ben said, we get folks through here once in a while describing terrifying effects of long-term abuse -- or even sadder -- other people describing the totally paranoid & bizarre actions of someone close to them. So, judging from your post, I'd say you sound coherent & that you're astute/self-aware enough to know there's something wrong, here. You probably haven't sustained permanent damage. BE ONE OF THE SMART ONES! Get out now, you've got your whole life in front of you! Please let us know what you think. We're here & we're in your corner ;-))

Below, are two excerpts I found for you:

From: Bluelight (drug forum):


30-10-2008 21:19

    ATF: Coricidin has two drugs in it: dextromethorphan and chlorpheniramine maleate (CPM). CPM is an antihistamine which has anticholinergic effects. This means it blocks acetylcholine in the brain. Acetylcholine is a necessary chemical to have, that is if we want to make and retain memories. Both drugs (DXM and CPM) are metabolized by the same enzyme in the human body, if I am not mistaken. This can result in an overdose of both substances, one of the effects being suppressed breathing ability (to the point of death). Anticholinergics are also very bad for your eyes, and can cause permanent damage to them.

    Xorkoth: I'm truly sorry to hear that you had to go through the nightmare of knowing you ****** yourself up, and then living with the consequences. It's good that you feel more or less normal now.

    Something similar happened to my brother after we had been doing DXM in various forms for a while. He had been popping one or two CCCs day after day. At the time, he said that the drug's effects were like "background noise," and all he had to do was take one or two pills to boost the effects. He had also been on meth, but I didn't know it at the time. One day, he took a single CCC pill, and I took a large bottle of Delsym (888mg DXM poly). Things were going fine until that night when my brother went to sleep. I could hear him making robot noises and muttering something about "people." He was weeping for all the people. He got up, came into the living room, and looked quite confused. Of course I was freaking out, because I had taken such a massive dose of DXM, and could see that something was clearly wrong with my brother (I knew he had only taken one pill, so for him to look confused and act so strangely wasn't right at all).

    He was very confused for over a week. He was blacking out, not making sense, wrecking things, and just generally scaring the ever-loving **** right out of me. This lasted for over seven days. We even took him to the emergency room, but they did nothing to help.

    Simple confusion for a week may not seem like much to any of you, but this was full-blown Alzheimer's-like behavior. If you have seen an advanced AD patient, then you know how utterly ****** that condition is.

    Last edited by mecaib; 30-10-2008 at 21:28.

From 'Over The Counter' Drug Addiction:


Coricidin (CCC) Abuse

The latest substance abuse trend involves taking over-the-counter cold remedies containing dextromethorphan, also known as DXM.The abuse of Coricidin, which some teens refer to as "Triple C's, is so appealing, teens say, because it's easy to get, it's legal, and parents and teachers usually don't have any idea they're taking it. When parents see that their kids have Coricidin cold pills, they don't think twice. It's just cold medicine, after all; it seems innocent enough. Often the kids don't even buy the Coricidin - they steal it. The shoplifting has led some stores to move that type of Coricidin and other cold products containing DXM behind the counter. Failing grades or a trip to the hospital is sometimes what it takes to alert kids and their parents to the danger. Doctors say they're seeing more and more kids in emergency rooms who've taken too much Coricidin. At a hospital in Texas, emergency room personnel observed that the kids who come in to the emergency room after consuming large doses of cold medications containing DMX, like Coricidin, are agitated, difficult to control, sweating and unresponsive when you try to speak to them, Over the last three years, there's been approximately a 300 percent increase in calls to poison control centers about dextramethorphan. Some parents say Coricidin, because it's so accessible, is worse than prescription or street drugs. They want it taken off store shelves. But the company that makes Coricidin, Schering-Plough HealthCare Products, said removing it from the shelves would deny cold sufferers access to a helpful medication. Wal-Mart's policy is to sell it only to customers 18 or older, and the chain limits the number of boxes people can buy to three. Still, kids who want to abuse the medicine can still find it in stores or buy it over the Internet. Ultimately, making the decision not to abuse Coricidin and other over the counter cold medications will be up to the kids.

Dextromethorphan-containing products, come in the form of tablets, capsules, gel caps, lozenges, and syrups - are labeled DM, cough suppressant, or Tuss (or contain "tuss" in the title).Individuals using large doses of Coricidin and other cold products containing DXM, hope to feel euphoria and excitement, but often encounter instead drowsiness, vomiting, hallucinations, convulsions, high blood pressure, coma or even death. Some of the signs of Coricidin use include confusion, difficulty walking, and vomiting, which are similar to alcohol intoxication. Added ingredients add potential problems, including high fevers or liver failure. Coricidin, and other over the counter cold medications containing DXM can cause heart or nervous system damage. Long-term abuse of DXM can cause mental illness (psychosis), erectile dysfunction, frequent urination, chronic high blood pressure, muscle contortions and rapid back-and-forth eye movements (nystagmus).

Medicines containing dextromethorphan are easy to find, affordable for cash-strapped teens, and perfectly legal. Getting access to Coricidin and other cough and cold products containing DXM, is often as easy as walking into the local drugstore with a few dollars or raiding the family medicine cabinet. And because it's found in over-the-counter medicines, many teens naively assume that Coricidin and other OTC products containing DXM cannot be dangerous, but this assumption could be deadly. Coricidin abuse and addiction should be taken as seriously as any other chemical dependency, and treatment should be provided to give the individual the best chance at recovery.
****************************************************

[vicki595]

We were writing at the same time...You've made a good decision!  Get in touch if you need help after you've been without it for a few days...

[vicki595]

A standing ovation for your parents...they're smarter than you are right now...

Listen, bad judgement is not unusual at 16 so you need to heed everyone's warnings here.  What you're doing is dangerous to your mental and physical health; now and in the future.

You don't think you're addicted or dependent on Coriciden?  Have you ever NOT taken it for a full week?  That's a good indicator of dependence...

You don't have a point of reference here and that's a problem so you need to trust us when we tell you to give it up. The psychological damage is extreme; the little problem you're having now with Math is nothing compared to the day you pick up the remote control and try using it as a phone...That kind of damage doesn't go away overnight, if at all.

Lean on your parents and let them help you-

[barrelracer2016]

I appreciate all the comments and concern and help. I guess I just liked to party but I am going to give it a break for awhile... this drug is more dangerous than I thought.. :(